28b: Restoration
by cali-chan
Summary: She was laying on the ground, apparently unconscious, and she looked to be around four years old. A new window showed a map of the Digital World, pinpointing an approximate of her location. There were also seven other red dots flashing back at them.


**Restoration**

_Chapter 1_**  
**

**Author:** Carla, aka cali-chan  
**Rating:** PG-13, so far. Rating might go up, though, depending on my mood when writing later chapters.  
**Genre:** Somewhat drama, romance, even some action, I guess.  
**Pairings:** All the canon couples are included (lol, all two of them), and a couple non-canon can be found, too. You'll know which ones they are, it'll be obvious as you read on.

**Canon/timeline:** This fanfic follows the japanese timeline (look it up in the Digipedia-- digipedia dot db-destiny dot net slash misc slash japtimeline dot htm). So I'm taking into account all of Digimon 02 up to the fifth movie (_Diablomon strikes back_), including the drama CDs. The story itself takes place many years after the end of DA02, but before the epilogue. The "older" chosen children have all graduated high school and went on to university. Miyako is in her last year of high school still, you can figure out their ages and grades from that fact on.

**Summary:** She was laying on the ground, apparently unconscious. But that wasn't the worst part: She looked to be around four years old. A new window showed a map of the Digital World, pinpointing an approximate of her location. There were also seven other red dots flashing back at them.

**Author's note 1:** Just in case you read this and start thinking I plagiarized this from somebody else... I didn't. It's actually a rewrite of an old fic of mine called "The Missing Link," which I posted on this site back in 2005. A few days ago, after watching the Digimon 01 and 02 movies for like the 38th time (no kidding, I just love those movies!), I decided I had quite a good premise back then, and the reviewers were really awesome about it as well (I love you guys!) so now I decided to take it back, give it a few new twists (the characters are now older, for one) and I'm now going to continue it, just under a different title. So if you're thinking this seems familiar, well, that's why! Please do let me know if I missed correcting something.

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* * *

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Jyou walked into the Inoue store in somewhat of a hurry. He'd been on his way to the library to pick up some books, when his mother had called him and told him to go and buy some groceries for their family dinner that night. He did what he was told to but he wanted to be done as quickly as possible; he only had about half an hour to get to the library before it closed. So he quickly grabbed everything his mother asked him to get and moved to the counter.

He was greeted by a smiling, purple-haired teen. "Hi, Jyou-kun! How are you doing?" she asked, as she added all the items up.

"Hello, Miyako-chan," he replied, smiling lightly. "I'm good, thanks. A little stressed with all the studying, but then again, that's normal in me."

Miyako laughed. "Yes, I guess you're right. I haven't seen you around lately." Jyou had dated her older sister Momoe a few years back, so Miyako had gotten used to being around him more than the rest of the Chosen Children. However, that relationship fizzled out after some time and Jyou got accepted into medical school and became very busy, so it had been a while since she last talked to him. She pressed one last button on the cash register and looked at the screen. "That'd be 1458.87 yen. You know, I thought I'd see you at the party."

Jyou frowned as he gave her the money. "Party? What party?"

Miyako realized she might have screwed things up. "Um... August 1st? Memorial day, remember? Tai-san and Kari-chan hosted a small reunion yesterday... I thought you knew..."

Jyou was starting to feel a lump in his throat. "Um, no, I didn't... I wasn't... I wasn't even invited. I assumed we just weren't doing anything this year."

Miyako didn't know what to tell him. "Er, maybe they figured you were so busy you wouldn't be able to make it, Jyou-kun," she assured him energetically, trying to cheer him up. It was obvious he wasn't taking the news all that well. "In fact, many people weren't able to make it. In the end it was just Iori-kun, Ken-kun, Daisuke-kun, Kari-chan and Tai-san. All the others were either away or busy."

Jyou swallowed hard. They wouldn't purposedly exclude him. No, not at all. They were his friends, after all. "Yes, I'm sure that must be it, Miyako-chan." Miyako flinched; it seemed like he was not convinced. He grabbed the groceries bag with a light "thank you" and bid her goodbye, walking out to his car with a slightly dejected posture.

--

Yagami Yuuko watched as her son ran all around the house looking for his soccer equipment.

He wouldn't normally be so frantic before going to practice, especially if it was during Summer Break, but since he got into University on a soccer scolarship, he had to keep up his game in order to maintain it, so he had to be prepared. He still loved the sport very much, although he no longer lived and breathed soccer like he did back in elementary school, and he usually managed to balance the team with his international relations studies very well. And Yuuko knew her son, he was taking both of them very seriously.

"Taichi...?" she asked as he passed her on his way to his room, again.

"Mom!" he yelled back from inside. Probably from underneath his bed, too. "Have you seen my calf protectors!"

She thought about it for a second. Last she had seen those, he had had them. That wouldn't be of much help. "No, I haven't!"

"Shit!"

"Yagami Taichi, watch your language!" He didn't even bother to apologize for that slip of the tongue. "Taichi, dear, would you like something to eat? I could make you a sandwich, and you can take it to go and maybe eat it when you get a break from practice..." If she did know him as well as she thought she did, he'd probably refuse her offer but make the sandwich himself. She wasn't the greatest cook ever.

"Eh, I don't think so, Mom. No time for that!" he told her as he passed her on his way to the computer room.

Now that was strange. Taichi refusing food altogether? "Oh! I forgot to tell you, Yamato-san called earlier. He said to call him back when you could."

He'd found his calf protectors, as he was putting them in his bag when he came into the living room again. He took one good, long look at the phone and then looked back at her, something in his eyes that she didn't know if it was sadness, or determination. "That can wait. I'm already late as it is." And with that, he swung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out the door.

Yuuko wondered if he was perhaps taking this issue too seriously.

--

On the other side of the Pacific, a phone rang once. And twice. And again, and again. No one was there to pick it up.

"Hello! Tachikawa desu. That means, you just called the Tachikawa residence-- well, Tachikawa and Stevens, that is. This is Mimi speaking. Charlie and I aren't here right now, because we traveled to Los Angeles for Summer Break! Isn't that awesome! Well, we won't be back until two weeks into August, so please call us back then, or leave a message if you can't. We'll call back when we come back. Bye-e!"

Whoever was on the other line obviously couldn't wait that long. The only response to the greeting was a click, and then the dial tone.

--

Ichijouji Ken opened the door to the Odaiba Upper Secondary Computer Lab, wanting to pick up a book that he'd left there the day before. As they were on a break, he didn't expect to see anyone there. His expectations were not correct, however, as he found a familiar redhead almost eclipsed by a computer screen.

"Koushiro-sempai? What are you doing here? You don't go to this school anymore." The boy didn't seem to hear him, as he continued typing frantically into the computer. "Koushiro-sempai?"

"I left some of my best programs in these computers," the young man muttered, without ever taking his eyes off the screen.

Ken frowned a bit, and looked around for his book. After a few seconds he found it, and picked it up, walking back to were Koushiro was, settling beside him. "So, why weren't you at the Memorial Day reunion?" he wondered, curious.

"Busy. Summer courses," was all the response he got. He took a good look at the code his fellow digidestined was writing and wondered how long he'd have to make small talk before Koushiro started answering with monosyllables. Or in binary language, perhaps.

"I see. Well, it was nice to see you, Koushiro-sempai," he ended amiably, and moved on towards the door again. Then he remembered something, and turned back to the 19-year-old computer whiz. "By the way, I'm going over to Daisuke's for a small meeting with the others. Would you like to come?"

"Can't. Talk to everyone later," Koushiro no more than whispered. He was so focused on his program, that his nose was almost touching the monitor device. He was so close, he actually had to squint to see the characters.

Ken shrugged and opened the door. "If you say so. See you around, Koushiro-sempai." And with that, he left the room. Koushiro didn't even acknowledge his goodbye.

--

Sora sighed dejectedly, pressing the "end" button on her cellphone. Figures that Mimi would be out of town when she most needed to talk to someone.

She looked around her. The park was pretty much empty, no sign of Yamato yet. She looked down at her wristwatch; he was just about an hour late. She was only going to wait for ten more minutes.

Not for the first time she wondered why they kept doing this to each other. They did care, they cared very much, but they hadn't had time to really be together, just one evening, just the two of them, in a long time. Their lives were just too busy. It seemed that as much as they wanted to be together, their lives just didn't agree.

Just as she was going to leave, she spotted his blond hair coming her way, and so she sat down on the bench again. He ran up to meet her, and somewhat out of breath sat down beside her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Band practice dragged on and then I had to finish reviewing three Physics chapters, I just couldn't avoid it. I couldn't reach you and I called Taichi to see if he could tell you, but seems like he never got the message. I just finished, I came as soon as I could..." She took one look at his gorgeous blue eyes and knew that he was truly apologetic. He was always sincere, but this always happened, over and over. Sometimes it was him who would cancel, sometimes it was her. It just couldn't work like that.

"It's okay," she whispered, looking down. A couple years back, Yamato had decided he wanted to go to university to study astronautics. He poured himself into his studies and passed the entrance tests with great marks; he was ecstatic when he was accepted. Sora was immensely proud of him, but of course it didn't get any easier from then on: it was a very hard carreer path to take, not to mention he still had his band... all of it often conflicted with their relationship. It made her sad, but at the same time she would do nothing to keep him away from fulfilling his dream. And she couldn't blame him, when at the same time she was also busy with tennis and arts. She had dreams of her own, too.

He lightly touched her chin to make her look back at him. "It's not okay," he said, more than asked. "Sora..."

"I've just been thinking..." she started, after taking a deep breath. She needed a lot of courage to do what she was about to do. "That if we're slowing down each other's lives so much, maybe we should end this."

His expression changed quickly from tenderness to disbelief. "Oh, no. No no no. Sora, you're not doing this..." She nodded, sadly. "No, Sora, we've been together for almost six years!"

"I know," she tried to explain, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "But Yamato-- we're at a place in our lives... we're making ourselves into the persons we're going to be in the future. That's... that's a huge thing. We should be focusing on it. This being together but not being together is only upsetting us."

"Love, you're more important than that..." he sounded a little desperate, and then he seemed to hear what he had just said and closed his eyes as if it hurt. "I promised myself that I would not become my father. God, what am I doing?"

"Yamato, you're not your father," Sora touched his face, wanting him to open his eyes. He did, and they were filled with such pain, it was hard for her to keep the tears at bay. But she wasn't going to cry, not in front of him, not right now. "I know you've tried your best. It's... not you. It's not me, either. It's just the situation we're in."

"We can try harder..."

"No, we can't. What we have to do now is focus on our studies, and in our future." She wrapped her arms around him tightly, pressing her face into his neck. He didn't reciprocate. He still couldn't believe what was happening. "I want you to be the best astronaut ever. I want you to travel to the stars. You don't know how proud I am of you, Yamato."

"But I love you," he whispered in her ear. It made her shiver.

"I know. And I love you, too." She got out of the embrace and looked into his deep sapphire eyes. "But sometimes when you love something, you have to let it go." Her voice broke at the end of that last phrase, but still she wouldn't shed a tear.

"I don't believe in that." He replied. His tone had gotten harder. More angry than sad. He didn't want to be angry at a moment like this, but the strong mask Sora was putting on was bothering him a lot.

She shook her head. "It's for the best. Believe me, I know. I had the crest, remember?" She tried to smile, but he didn't smile back at her, so she sighed and lowered her eyes. "I have to go. I'll... see you around, I think..." She tried to stand up, but his hand on her arm stopped her. She looked back up at him, seeing that his expression was no longer angry, but he looked like his world was crumbling down. She didn't know which of the two was worse.

"Can I... kiss you one last time?"

She looked down. Of course he had to say the only words that could break her heart even more. But again he made her look back at him and she couldn't resist. She wanted this just as much as she did. Maybe it would give them a sense of closure.

"Please?"

She nodded. And their lips touched. And a tear fell down her cheek.

And it was not... she couldn't say it was closure, not at all. Actually, there was not much she could say about that kiss. It was nothing, anything and everything at the same time, as it always was when they kissed. He made her feel like she was falling into the deepest abyss, that she had to hold tightly to him or she would die; but he also made her feel like she was flying, like everything around them just dissolved into clouds and they were left standing on air, just the two of them.

But of course, she had to tumble back to solid ground again sometime. So before he could say anything, she let go of him, quickly wiped her eyes and with a whispered "goodbye", ran back to her house, to cry her heart out.

--

Miyako led Hikari into Daisuke's room. She was the last one to get there. They weren't doing anything important, but that didn't stop Miyako from chastising her about being late. She didn't mind much, she knew it just meant that Miyako-chan had really wanted to see her.

She said hello and they all replied back in kind. Daisuke greeted her exhuberantly, as per usual. But Takeru... he barely glanced at her with raised eyebrows. As if that was much of a greeting.

She resolved not to let it ruin her evening. She was going to share some girl talk with Miyako-chan, laugh at Daisuke-kun's antics and think deep with Iori-kun. Maybe share a conversation with Ken-kun. She wasn't going to pay attention to him.

But her will was weak. She couldn't help but steal glances at him. He was talking with Ken, and seemed pretty entertained. He never once noticed that she was looking at him. Or maybe he did, but he just ignored it.

Not fifteen minutes had passed since she arrived, when Takeru stood up and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, guys, I just remembered that my mom wanted me to be home early." Among his friend's protests and questions, he shook his head. "I, um-- I gotta go." And, making sure that he looked at every one of them but her, he waved. "I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, he left.

Daisuke shrugged it off easily. Takeru was his friend (not that he'd ever admit it) and fellow digidestined, but he wasn't going to cry because of his absence or anything. Iori wondered what was going on, but after a while he sat on the computer and gave his attention to other stuff. Ken frowned at the door for a couple of minutes, but like Iori, he couldn't find an explanation for Takeru's actions. Miyako felt sad, and turned to look at her best friend. And the bearer of light simply sighed.

Everybody knew, then. Well, except Daisuke, but he didn't count.

Miyako grabbed her hand consolingly. "You have to talk to him. You two can't go on like this," she suggested, not for the first time. The guys weren't listening, so they could talk about the issue until they came to a solution.

Hikari shook her head. "I can't. If... if he doesn't want to be my friend anymore, there's not much I can do about it, is there?" Miyako opened her mouth to say something, but Hikari interrupted her. "I don't want to ask him about it. I'll probably end up feeling even worse. I just... I wish I knew what I did to make him hate me."

"He doesn't hate you, and I'm sure it was nothing that you did, Kari-chan," Miyako used her free hand to brush her friend's hair, trying to soothe her pain. "You two have been best friends since you were eight years old. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

"I hope so, Miyako-chan," she whispered. Then she heard her own words, and they reminded her of him, and it made her all the more sad.

--

Jyou's cellphone rang just as he parked his car. He was unloading his books and the groceries, and so it took him a few seconds to react. He was sure it was his mother calling to ask him what was taking him so long. He contemplated not answering, since he would be at his parents' place in two minutes and all, but decided against it. If he didn't pick up the phone, his mother wouldn't stop calling and the trek up the stairs of the apartment building would be noisy and it would annoy him to no end. So he put the books on the passenger's seat and took the phone in his hands, pressing the "talk" button.

Taichi was practicing his penalty shots when someone yelled at him from the sides of the pitch. "Yagami! Someone's calling you!"

He looked sideways to the bleachers, to the guy that was waving his cellphone at him. It was probably Yamato, calling him again since he hadn't been able to talk to him the last time. He figured he didn't need to answer him straightaway; they still had a few minutes to practice, and he could call Yamato back when he got home.

His coach, however, had other ideas. "Yagami! If you don't shut that thing up right now, I'm going to bench you! I was going to cut practice short anyway, so you can go answer the phone. Go!"

Taichi muttered an apology and ran towards the bleachers. Behind him, he could hear the coach telling his teammates that practice would be over in five minutes. Taichi grabbed his phone from the guy who had called out to him, grabbed his stuff and ran to the lockers, where he finally answered the call.

--

Mimi looked in her purse for her cellphone. She'd just been getting out of bed when she heard it ring. She wondered who'd be calling her at that hour. Her roommate was certainly asleep in bed next to hers and only her parents and a couple of her friends back in New York had her number, and they were certainly aware of the time difference between home and California. She was still so sleepy that she didn't bother to look at the caller ID when she answered.

Koushiro looked up from the screen when he noticed it was getting late. He had to go home; he'd promised to help his roommate with some schoolwork after he was done with this. He was getting his stuff together when he noticed that his cellphone, which he had set to vibrator so as not to be bothered, had been ringing for the last ten minutes. Sure that it was his mother calling to check up on him, he pressed "talk" and put the phone to his ear.

Yamato sat in the dark in his room, guitar in hand, but he wasn't playing or composing anything, he was just staring blankly at a wall. His mind was off elsewhere, so he was startled when his cellphone started ringing. His ringtone was very perky and very pop. Sora had changed it jokingly a couple of weeks ago and he hadn't bothered to change it back.

He cringed. Just his luck. He'd have to remember to change it now.

Nonetheless he sprang up from his bed and grabbed it. Hopeful, he put it to his ear. "Sora?"

--

Sora was lying face down on the bed when she heard her phone ring. She didn't want to answer it. She knew it was going to be him. And that hurt her because she knew he was hurting and that's why he called her.

Wiping away her tears, she picked up the phone. "Yamato, please understand..."

--

Takeru had barely made it out of the building when his cellphone rang. He wondered if it was his mother. He'd only made that story up but perhaps she did want him to come home early after all. Or maybe it was one of his friends, calling to ask for the real reason behind his leaving so abruptly.

He pressed the respective button while he was walking down a dark part of the road home. "Hello?"

--

Iori had opened up a connection to the Digital World and was animatedly talking to his Armadillomon about his Summer Break so far. All the digimon had decided to go back to the Digital World for some time, because as much as they loved the kids and had fun with them, they liked going back to their home once in a while. They wouldn't be gone more than a week, but the separation seemed endless already to some.

The teen laughed at something his digimon companion had said, and as he looked around he noticed a cellphone, right beside the computer screen, was vibrating. "Hm. Whose cellphone is this?" he asked the others.

"Oi, Hikari-chan, your phone is ringing!" Daisuke exclaimed, getting Hikari's attention. The girl nodded and promptly picked up the phone. She checked the caller ID and saw something unusual-- it said the number was "unknown." Hikari rarely got calls from people she didn't know.

She was still pondering this, when _it_ happened. She hadn't even pressed "talk." She hadn't even put the phone to her ear. But a bright white light shone out of the phone, blinding everyone in the room. Miyako screamed. Ken rushed to find someone around him. Iori closed his eyes tightly, standing still in his place. Daisuke's scream was heard over all of this: "Hikari-chan!"

As quickly as it had come, the light dissapeared. They were all about to ask just what had happened, when they heard the sound of Hikari's phone falling to the floor.

Hikari wasn't there. She was nowhere to be found.

"Huh? Where did Hikari-chan go!" Daisuke exclaimed.

"She just dissapeared into the light!" Miyako exclaimed right back, wide-eyed.

Ken put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down; calm both of them down. "It's not that unusual. The same thing happens when we go to the Digital World."

"But not through our cellphones! And not without us wanting to go there!" Daisuke again vociphered.

Miyako was still worried, but pensive. Ken was right, it was almost the same thing, but then again Daisuke had a point. She just wished that Kari was okay.

"You guys," a whisper from Iori, who was still facing the computer, startled them all. Their ears had gotten used to the yelling. They all turned to the youngest of them all, wondering what it was he wanted to tell them. "Ken-san might be more right than we think." And without any more words, he pointed to the computer screen.

Where only Armadillomon had been standing, now a group of other digimon, including Hawkmon, Gomamon and Gatomon, were forming a tight circle around something. At Iori's prodding, they separated, letting the kids see what they had been looking at so intently.

Miyako and Daisuke rushed to the screen, in their haste pushing Iori aside, to stand by Ken, right behind them. So it was true.

"Kari-chan..." Miyako whispered, trying to see if the girl could hear her. For there, in the middle of the digimon circle, was Hikari, laying on the ground, apparently unconscious. But that wasn't the worst part.

She looked to be around four years old.

A new window right next to the one they were looking at showed a map of the Digital World, pinpointing an approximate of Hikari's location. There were also seven other red dots flashing back at them.

Daisuke voiced what the other three were also thinking. "Guys... this is bad..."

.

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**Author's note 2:**

I kinda have an idea of where I want this to go but I haven't quite figured out the details. Add to that the fact that I'm an extremely slow writer and you can probably guess that it'll be quite a while before you see the next chapter. But I promise I'll try my best-- hopefully some of you will be willing to wait a little.

I apologize if you found it too dramatic, especially in the Yamasora part. I don't like drama, I usually just focus on fluff and romance and stuff, but this one was necessary. And I actually kind of like it :) As you see, I've used the Japanese names, and the Japanese crests (that means Mimi has the Purity crest and Jyou has the crest of Faith/Sincerity/Honesty, depending on how you prefer to translate the word Seijitsu). I assume the Japanese suffixes are all common knowledge, but if you have a problem with them, just tell me and i'll put up a glossary in the next chapter. Just to warn you, though: if you've only ever watched the dub, please get a hold of some fansubs. it will not only make my life easier, but you'll be much happier, too.

Just FYI, the older Chosen Children are all already attending University, as I mentioned in my notes at the beginning. Details of where they're living for those who want them (not that it really matters, but I'm anal when it comes to background details for my characters, so I thought it up anyway):

-Jyou lives in a University dorm. So does Mimi back in the US, but she has a roommate. (Charlie Stevens is a girl, BTW. You thought Mimi's dad would let her room with some random guy?).  
-Koushiro shares an apartment with one of his classmates. (The internet connection at the dorms was too slow).  
-Taichi still lives at home because... eh, because I wanted his mother to be in that one scene, so sue me. The woman is awesome. xP We'll just say the dorms he was assigned to stay in sucked, and the Yagami apartment was close to campus so he decided to just stay. I don't think Yuuko would mind much.  
-Sora and Yamato still live with their mother and father, respectively. Neither wanted to leave their respective parent alone.

BTW, I'm in no way trying to bash Daisuke. I think he's a great character, I really like him. But you gotta admit he _is_ a bit clueless most of the time. It just makes him all the more lovable in my eyes. And anyway, he'll get his chance to prove his worth soon enough.

_Other interesting notes because I'm just a big nerd like that:_

-For those who were wondering, 1458.87 yen is around $15.80, according to the universal currency converter.  
-You don't study _astronomy_ in order to become an astronaut. Instead, you begin with a degree in _astronautics_ (that is, astronautical engineering), physics, or other related engineering disciplines, and of course flight training. Many, if not most, of the current 489 people that can be considered "astronauts" worldwide had some sort of military flight training (Navy, Army, Marines) in their resume.

Anyway, that's about it for now. See y'all next chapter! Oh, and please, if you liked it, or if you hated it, or if you just have nothing better to do, please review!


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